Nakama Britannica

Despite the academic tone of this articles title, and my rhetoric (which is usually inevitable), I have noticed that the majority of the articles on our blog recently have taken to the same format, so I’ll be staying away from quotation marks or overly critical statements for the duration of this latest monologue.

One thing that struck me when I was younger, and started hunting down what I thought were fairly obscure titles (the original Disgaea, when the epiphany was born), was the question of whether such things were mainstream or not, and whether this benefited them. We’d all like anime to be mainstream for the continued success and productivity of the companies behind our favourite pieces of entertainment, and I’m always happy when I hear of an individual or business made rich, or wealthy, by producing the forms of entertainment that draw on Japanese culture in a positive way (whether they’re videogames, anime, music, or anything of the like). Most recently I find myself hoping Tomonobu Itagaki of Team Ninja will win his lawsuit against Tecmo - along with the rest of the crew who followed him - and garner their personal victories over the corporations that are so insensitive.

It reminds me of the Jeff Gerstmann situation, but in actual fact, the matter isn’t even a contest between individual or corporate interests, as far as I perceive it, but a contrast between the personal (even cultural) aspects behind these industries, and their corporate, economic measures. Some might not see a difference between the two, or emphasise their contingency, and, of course, industry empowers the individual, because unless you’re Makoto Shinkai, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be making an anime, much less a successful one, entirely by yourself, or anything approaching it. Whenever anything becomes more mainstream, however, it almost inevitably becomes the victim of dilution, with the individual and imaginative forces behind the original being curtailed by the scaled interests of an ever greater number of advisers and departments, when marketing, public relations and other corporate commonalities start to exert influence on production.

Of course, this is a very general, and to a degree - in some places - personal, and speculative, assessment, of the differences between niche and mainstream items. If most people were entirely honest, or aware of the character of the debate, I’m sure they’d realise that it’s more than just an argument about the ways in which capitalism obstructs creativity, or the culture of business surrounding it. That’s because unlike most products, the difference between a mainstream and a niche anime, or anime industry, isn’t just cosmetic. Many bands are accused of selling out, but they rarely change significantly (how many say anything significant either way), and it’s more often a matter of evolution and the pursuit of creativity, when inspiration runs dry, than becoming mainstream. Anime, on the other hand, would have to lose much of its individual personality, and even the Japanese cultural aspects at its heart that engenders this personality, to become mainstream in the UK, because what most people don’t realise is that it’s a cultural animosity toward Japan, and an unwillingness to learn about it, that prevents anime from becoming mainstream here.

Anime is already popular in many parts of the world, but I hope that this doesn’t feed into anime itself. Becoming mainstream entails economic, not creative benefit, and although it would be nice to see individual efforts recognised (as they sometimes are, with the Oscar won by Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away being an example), this is a kind of academic and critical appreciation, that doesn’t always give way to commercial success. I’d be happy with just this kind of recognition, and take solace not only in the fact that a niche industry is more creative, but also tends to produce a more understanding and friendlier fanbase.

I can’t guess to what degree all these considerations are present in the anime industry, in what way or to what length they effect it and the subculture we belong to, but my hope is only that people realise that being mainstream doesn’t imply immediate, or even substantial benefits to the industry. I’d like more anime in the shops, but I’d hope that at the end of the day, it is still anime, in the sense that I know it. For such a critical fanbase, which takes issue with any kind of motion away from the Japanese originals - whether it’s in the censorship of violent or sexual content, the issue of dubs, or anything else - I’m surprised so many are as indelicate as they are toward the mainstream effect, and how it could change our anime.

So at the end of it all, I’d ask whether a mainstream industry is really what we want, because although I understand that the UKs reception of anime will in itself change the industry very little, it does beg the wider question, which I hope will be regarded with more thought, of whether being mainstream is a positive, or a negative influence.